Trouble and Tunnels
by Frank Toadfish
Summary: Miles and Julian are interrupted, and this means only one thing for DS9's Chief Medical Officer. Hide!


Please excuse the extra pairing in this, Bashir and O'Brien fans. It doesn't mean I don't like the Miles/Julian pairing any less! And you know that I don't own any of the characters, objects and places in this. Unfortunately. But I'm mentioning it anyway. Hope you like it:

**Miles O'Brien was arranging the cushions on his sofa, having just finished tidying his quarters, when the door buzzed. **

"**Come in," the Chief said. The doors opened at his voice, and Julian stepped inside from the quiet, grey corridor.**

"**I hope I'm not late," he smiled, and put his bag onto the coffee table. The doctor began to take various items out of it excitedly, his back to the engineer. "Let's see...We have _un_-replicated chocolate, a selection of Vic Fontaine's greatest love songs, my dermal re-generator - just in case, and some marshmallows." He turned to Miles, whose expression was one of shock. "What? Don't tell me you're allergic to marshmallows?"**

"**Julian, do you know what day it is?" Miles asked him. Julian looked at him, confused.**

"**Thursday, right? Our special night?" Miles nodded, and the doctor looked even more puzzled than ever.**

"**I told you on Tuesday that we'd have to cancel this evening. Keiko and the kids were coming back from Bajor today."**

**Julian slapped his forehead, and swore. "Are they here already?" Miles reluctantly nodded again. "Where are they now?"**

"**They went to see Kira. She wanted to see Yoshi."**

"**Are you sure we haven't got time to...?" Julian asked, hopefully. Miles glared at him. **

"**And get caught? By my wife? Of course, Julian. Why don't we just tell her to her face that I'm sleeping with you?"**

**Julian blushed. "I thought it was more than that." Miles softened his angry expression.**

"**It is." He moved towards the doctor, and Julian kissed him back, happily.**

**The sound of voices stopped them. The wail of Yoshi's cry, and Keiko shouting above him to tell Molly off for something made Miles freeze.**

"**Quick, hide!" he whispered to Julian, and the doctor ran out of the room at top speed. Miles gathered the things Julian had brought back into his bag, and stuffed it under the sofa. The door opened, and a very stressed Keiko entered with Molly and Kirayoshi.**

"**There you are!" Miles said, a false smile on his face. "I was worried. Did the visit to the Major's not go well?"**

**Keiko looked at him with a frown. "It was fine, until Molly got jealous of the attention that Nerys gave to Yoshi, and not her. And then because of that, she threw up all over Kira's carpet."**

**Miles looked at his daughter. "Did you apologise to Auntie Nerys?"**

**Molly shrugged. "Maybe." Keiko gave her a look.**

"**No, she didn't. Molly, go to your room, and don't come out until Mommy or Daddy says you can." Molly stomped off to her bedroom, her face full of fury.**

"**I'm sure she'll grow out of it," Miles said, trying to sound optimistic. Keiko sighed. **

"**We still have to cope with her being a teenager yet. Not to mention Yoshi's entire childhood."**

*******

**Molly entered her room, and her anger began to dissipate as she saw her familiar toys and clothes she had to leave behind whenever her mother left to work on Bajor. She picked up one of her dolls, and cuddled it. When she got bored of that, she climbed up onto her bed, and took down a small bottle of perfume Keiko had put on a high shelf. Molly's mother had forbidden her to use it, telling her it was for when she was older, putting it high up out of her reach, but Molly was feeling in a rebellious mood.**

**She sat down on the floor, and squirted the perfume. Not knowing where to aim the nozzle, the vaporised spray squirted off to her left, under her bed. A loud sneeze made Molly jump. She peered underneath the bed, frightened.**

"**Hello, Molly," whispered Doctor Bashir. Molly stared.**

"**What are you doing under my bed, Uncle Julian?"**

**Julian hesitated. "I was playing hide and seek with your daddy this afternoon. He hasn't found me yet."**

"**Do you want me to tell him you're here? You must be really good at hide and seek!"**

"**No! That would...be cheating."**

"**Should I tell Mommy?"**

**Julian shook his head. "Better not. She might tell your dad that I was hiding in your room, and then he'd know one of my hiding places. It'll be our secret, OK?" Molly grinned. **

"**Do I get a candy bar if I don't tell?"**

**The doctor sighed. "Alright. I'll get you one tomorrow."**

"**Molly?" Keiko's voice came from the other side of the door. "You can come out now, Molly, if you're sorry for what you've done." The O'Brien's daughter smiled at Julian, then left the room, taking her mother's hand. The door slid shut.**

**Julian scrambled out quickly from under the bed, the sensation of pins and needles uncomfortable in his legs. He looked around for an exit, and spotted an entrance to one of the ducts used by the engineers and mechanics when there was an emergency problem in the station's wiring. He quietly opened the hatch, and climbed inside, just as noiselessly putting the heavy cover back. He turned around with difficulty, crouching as his tall frame would not allow him to stand. He doubted any one smaller would be able to stand either, but the thought that occupied his mind more was to find his own quarters. **

**There were endless duct covers everywhere as he shuffled along the tunnels, each one identical-looking and giving no clue as to where he might be.**

"**Computer?" The station's computer bleeped to acknowledge his request. "Am I near my own quarters?"**

"**Unable to dispense information," came the reply.**

"**Thanks," muttered Bashir, and came to a stop. He decided to try one of the ducts, just to see where he was. He pushed the nearest duct cover out of the tunnel, and his eyes widened at the sight in front of him.**

**He was looking into Morn's quarters, where Quark's most popular customer was relaxing in his jacuzzi bed of liquid mud, a Dabo girl either side of him. When the girls saw the thin doctor coated in dust from the tunnel, they screamed in panic. Morn glared at him, and made a rather rude gesture to go away. **

"**Sorry, my mistake," Julian apologised, and put the duct cover back into place, concealing him from the scene. He continued to crawl along the tunnel, and a few covers later, tried again.**

"**I think you may have the wrong room, doctor," said Captain Sisko, as Julian looked into the bedroom quarters.**

"**Please just leave," agreed Kasidy, pulling the duvet over herself.**

**Julian shut the cold, metal cover, and made his way along the cramped duct. After ten more minutes of crawling, he gave up, and leaned against the wall.**

"**The things I do for love," he sighed, and the cover he was resting on fell out, sending the doctor tumbling into the room.**

"**What a pleasant surprise," said Garak.**

**Julian looked up at the Cardassian, who was completely naked. He shrugged, and shut the cover, not bothering to climb back inside.**


End file.
